Nine To Noon for Tuesday 4 June 2024

09:05 Nurses fear hospital budget cuts will put staff, safety at risk

Nurses say they're at breaking point already, and fear cuts to hospital budgets demanded by Health NZ will put their own safety, and that of patients, at risk. This is despite the multi billion dollar injection for health in Thursday's Budget. RNZ reported in April that the country's public hospitals have been given the target to save a total of $105m by July. Te Whatu Ora says several districts have gone over budget in recent months.  It says it is "reducing the overspend, not making cuts". Hospital nurses say Te Whatu Ora has ordered an end to double shifts, and imposed new limitations on replacing sick staff in wards during the day. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation warns failing to plug the gaps will impact medical care. It has written to Health NZ's chief people officer, to share nurses' concerns of how they feel this may impact them.

09:20 Skipper honoured for decades of navigating rough seas

Stephen Kafka has been transporting conservation workers and researchers to remote sub-Antarctic islands for the past 25 years. Yesterday he was named on the King's Birthday honours list, as a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Since he bought his boat - the Evohe - four decades ago, he's tackled some of the world's most treacherous ocean passages. He is the only current provider to the Department of Conservation for transport to the Bounty and Antipodes Islands. And he's hosted various conservation and wildlife filming crews from international networks.

09:35 Rural lines company tackles trees with heli-saw

A central North Island lines company is dangling a giant saw off a helicopter in a bid to protect its infrastructure. Lines companies have been calling for an overhaul of rules stipulating what they can do to trees near lines for a decade. They have described a recent change allowing for a 'clear to the sky' zone meaning tree branches growing near lines can be cut back - as a tiny step. Risky trees can still fall and take down lines. This was one of the leading causes of outages after Cyclone Gabrielle in February last year. The Lines Company - the distributor for parts of the central North Island like Ruapehu, Te Kuiti and Taumarunui - is acutely impacted by trees. The company has devised an innovation - it's trialled a giant saw attached to a helicopter which runs up along lines and cuts branches. Mike Fox is chief executive of The Lines Company.     

09:45 USA correspondent Ron Elving

Ron Elving looks at the many unanswered questions after former US president Donald Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records at a New York trial. Is jail time on the cards? What will the political fallout be? And do Americans agree with the conviction? Meanwhile President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, is on trial facing gun charges. Prosecutors allege he lied about his drug use when he applied for, and purchased a gun in 2018.

Ron Elving is a Senior Editor and Correspondent, Washington Desk for NPR news.

10:05 Coping with cancer: Comedian Dai Henwood

Dai Henwood is well known to TV viewers, as a funny guy, but he's been going through some serious stuff. During his 25-year career he's won many major comedy gongs, including the Billy T Award, early in his stand-up days. Dai is a regular on the country's longest running comedy programme, 7 Days - and he's hosted many shows including Family Feud, Dancing with the Stars, and LEGO Masters. His latest project is a memoir, The Life of Dai, co-written with great friend and fellow comedian Jacqui Brown. The chapters not only cover off a fun career, but tell of facing life through the lens of stage four bowel cancer.

10:35 Book review: At The Grand Glacier Hotel by Laurence Fearnley 

Lynn Freeman reviews At The Grand Glacier Hotel by Laurence Fearnley published by Penguin Random House NZ

10:45 Around the motu: David Hill in North Canterbury 

Enterprise North Canterbury has been working with other regional tourism organisations to develop a Canterbury dark sky trail. The Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve was established in 2012, while the Kaikōura Dark Sky Trust is about to apply for dark sky sanctuary status and interest is growing in other Canterbury communities. Crunch time is fast approaching for two North Canterbury schools bulging at the seams. Woodend School and Te Kura o Tuahiwi are on the Ministry of Education's list of 352 building projects under review. And there'll be a review of the rules protecting Canterbury's coastline next year.

David Hill is a Local Democracy Reporter with North Canterbury News, based in Rangiora.

11:05 Business commentator Victoria Young

Hawke's Bay fast-food software company Fingermark has a new investor. US-listed giant Ecolab is taking a more than 9% stake, putting a nine-figure valuation on the tech firm. Victoria backgrounds what Fingermark does, and what the investment means. Also, she looks at what is next for the electricity sector with the Tiwai deal and Port of Auckland price hikes.

Victoria Young is the editor of BusinessDesk.

11:30 Gregory Hill: taking a train to Spain 

It was 40 years ago that Wellington man Gregory Hill first got the idea to travel to the direct opposite part of the world to New Zealand by train. And in 2019 he achieved that dream over three months with partner Anne Loeser. There were a handful of trips across water between New Zealand, Australia and parts of Southeast Asia but the vast majority on all types of trains, some comfortable, some not so. He ended his trip in a wheatfield in a Spanish village, which was the direct antipode - or opposite land mass - to his lounge in Wellington.

11:45 Sports-chat with Sam Ackerman

Sam Ackerman joins us to get the lay of the sporting landscape after a helter skelter weekend of sporting results - including the final round of Super Rugby Pacific, some big performances for New Zealanders in American competitions, and the Twenty20 World Cup.